Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.

Times and dates in your local timezone.

Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.

A number of my friends and I decided we wanted to do some new armies this year, and thought a great way to get us to actually have them done at some point would be to recreate a battle, allowing us to make a whole slew of Chapters that you very rarely see on the table. However, since the release of Primaris was set after the Badab War, we decided to instead do the 'Badab War X', a version of the Badad War set in an alternate universe where Primaris were revealed before the whole thing went down. Yeah it's not canonical, but at the end of the day we just wanted to have fun, and this also allows us to use the Chapters in normal games of 40k without restricting what units we can select from the Space Marine Codex.

My initial plan was to go for the Carcharodons, but unsurprisingly they were taken before I could even think about the whole thing . So, having a hunt around the Chapters involved in the Badab War, I finally came across the Executioners wiki page. And I liked what I read. A lot. So this is how we got to where we are now.

I've had a bit of time to put together a few things, as I'm not a fan of creating a whole new thread with nothing to look at. To begin with, here's the army list I plan to make for this. It's short and probably a bit awful, but it means I don't have a massive number of models to paint, which it normally my downfall (see my Custodians thread to see how long its taken me to paint 7/8 models without a deadline ). I've kept it in the spoiler tag just to reduce the amount of clutter on this thread.

I will be using the Black Templar's Chapter Tactic, but a warlord trait/relic/stratagem/anything else Chapter specific will be made by one of my friends for the event.

So as you can see, a very small list with a total model count of around 21. The plan is to stick Kane and the Veteran squad in the Razorback, and deepstrike the Assault Marines and Chaplain. Everything else just works as you'd think, with the Land Speeders getting up close quick to badger vehicles, and the Dreadnought adding support where needed.

Now, on to the actual meat of this thread, the models!

To begin with, I had a good think about what to use for my Thulsa Kane conversion. I would normally leave a character to a bit later in the painting process, but I knew I wanted to do him and an opportunity arose that meant I bought him a lot sooner than I had expected. You see, I had initially thought of simply using one of the many chaplain models that GW does and convert up the crozius to a massive axe, but none of them really called to me. That's when I remembered about the Legion of the Damned, and found a single model that I thought would be perfect (albeit with a bit of conversion work done). However, the model was the sergeant for a squad, and there was no way to buy him individually, so I went to the only place I knew I might be able to find him. Ebay. And let it be said that I can be fortunate sometimes, as right there was the single Legion of the Damned sergeant, and at a very reasonable price to boot. He still had a few days of bidding yet to go, so I bided my time to see if he would go up further, without increasing his worth myself. A few hours before the auction ended I gave in an made a small bid, which was a success! I ended up getting the model, p+p included, for about the same as it would have cost me to to buy one of the Chaplains, so I was stoked. He arrived at my house, and I got to work. Over the next few day, intermittently between work and other duties, I got him converted and painted up, and I'm really quite pleased with how hes turned out. Let me introduce you to my version of Thulsa Kane

Thulsa Kane

When researching the Executioners, I noticed that a lot of names of notable members seemed to be from a mix of viking/Norse and Hindu names, such as Fafnir Rann and Arkash Hakkon. I found this to be a really interesting combination that I want to try to emphasis in the army. I know the viking/Norse aesthetic has been done again and again, so I wanted to lean a bit heavier into Hinduism whilst maintaining that barbaric ruggedness from Norse. As such, you may (or may not have until I mentioned it here) notice a bit of sanskrit on the right shoulder of Kane, which says the word 'Executioner' (or at least it does according to an online translator). I plan to use this as a sort of accent on a fair bit of the army, using it in a similar way to how many others have used Celtic knots on Space Wolf and other Nose-style armies. In addition to this there are a few other nods towards Hinduism, such as the trishula and om/aum on the large loincloth-scroll (very hard to make out in the picture, but it's the two red bits). These minor details are things I plan to keep going throughout, but I'll probably save myself from writing about them in the future, so just look out for them.

In addition to Thulsa Kane, I was also able to get the first 5 man Assault squad done, or at least built. They all have at least some minor conversion work done to them, as I really love making my models unique (I again refer you back to my Custodian project, but this time in a positive light). For a start, I plan to arm as many people in my army with some type of axe (not entirely inspired, I'll admit, but I think it makes them a bit more unique in comparison to other Chapters at least). As such, I've exchanged all the chainswords for chainaxes and am thinking on how to do a massive axe for my Dreadnought (maybe steal the Blood Angel Librarian Dreadnought's force weapon? I'm open to suggestions). Either way, here are the models I've gotten built so far

Assault Squad 1 WIP

I'd love to hear your guys ideas for the name of this squad. Maybe something along the lines of Hinduism, but with that touch of Norse that I was on about earlier? I think adding a name will really bring the squad to life.
I should also probably mention the reason why the sergeant is currently missing his head. Simple, really. It just makes it easier to paint, as I want to undercoat his head white whereas the bodies will be undercoated black followed by a zenithal-like spray of leadbelcher. I've glued it to the base for now, just so I don't lose it.

So there we have it. So far I'm 28.57% of the way there in terms of models, 27.92% in terms of points, and nowhere in terms of the amount I have yet to actually do.

Thanks for having a look through this admittedly overly word-y introduction to my Executioners and the Badab War X campaign. I'll let you go now, but please fell free to give feedback on anything I've said or shown. Comments and criticisms are always welcome and incredibly useful.

@youwashock thanks! And hopefully it will end up pretty cool. I have plans for the army that might mean I’ll return to Kane to help tie him in better, but he’s done for now. I’m also a fan of the Hindu stuff, and giving a Chapter an aesthetic that hasn’t really been touched on. However, I know it can be all to easy to over-Hindu-ify them, as I’ve seen examples of people leaning far too heavily into their chosen look (the Aztec and Celtic marines are often a good example. People can do what they want, but I’m personally not a massivle fan of the armies that are just ‘Space x’, where ‘x’ is some randomly selected culture that has been tacked on to Space Marines. Again, this is just personal opinion, but I find it more pleasing when a combination of things are used to influence the design of a Chapter rather than a single thing being used as the entire groundwork. Hence why I’m using a mix of Hindu and Norse, but also maintaining the gothic look so common with 40k. Not to mention there is official art of the Executioners which I can build off of).

@Tyranid Horde thanks! I probably need to read into the lore more, as it’s one of my friends who started the whole thing. However, there’s no better excuse than this!

@Fifty 100% right. Because this is Badab War X and we only have 10 players (7 of which are playing Chapters that were originally on the Loyalist sude), we’ve decided to split the group into two nearly random 5 man teams (the Red Scorpions were kept as Loyalists whilst the Astral Claws were kept as Secessionist). However, I was fortunate enoigh to be on the opposite team to the Carcharodons player, so I intened to have another go at the Corcyran Massacre

@AndrewGPaul As I said to Fifty, we’re mixing up the teams a bit because of the number of player playing either Secessionists or Loyalist. Unfortunatly I ended up on the Loyalist side However, don’t let that make you think I’ll be playing them any differently to how they acted during the actual Badab war And no, I have no real intention of using the old camo scheme. The newer scheme is something I’m a little on the fence on at the moment (hopefully my version should be more to my liking), and I really don’t think the older scheme would work that well on a normal Space Marine. However, if I do ever expand the army to include Scouts, I might just bring it back for them.

@Meph thanks, and exactly! I can see the two aesthetics complementing eachother perfectly, giving a single coherent look that fits the army. Also thanks for the link to all the pictures. Definitely some inspirational stuff there.

@whalemusic360 I’ve just started, so there’s a way to go before we can consider this a good Badab project. But I appreciate the confidence

A lot of replying done there for my second post, but rather than leave the rest of you empty handed, I though it might be an idea to show you all a wee preview of the next upcoming model to be built. I’ve nothing additinal painted yet (bar the Assault Marines getting their undercoat and silver), but here’s the inside of Kane’s personal Razorback that (in my mind) he used throughout the War as both a place to conduct rituals/prayer as well as orchestrate the battle. Still a fair bit of cleanup and gap filling to go, but I didn’t want to leave you guys empty handed.

Razorback interior WIP

Hopefully you guys like that wee snippet. More to come soon-ish (tm). Comments, criticism, and general feedback is always welcome.

As a fan of Badab, I think you've got a great take on Kane: really nice bleak look, and I've always thought that sergeant would make a good chaplain base. Cool on incorporating the name/culture stuff- I similarly picked up on the Mesopotamian/Babylonian vibe to the Astral Claws.

Looking forward to seeing more!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/02/01 02:10:06

@spiralingcadaver, thanks! I wasn’t certain on what model to use as ka e initially, having searched through all the Chaplain models. But as soon as I saw the LotD sergeant, I knew he was the one. And yeah on the naming conventions. It’s something you see a lot of in 40k (especially for characters and the likes), so I thought it would be a good way to stick to a unique theme whilst also maintaining that 40k feel.

@mcmattila, the LotD models are great, and I’d love to have more excuses to incorperate them into armies, but seeing as this is my first actual Space Marine army, I haven’t had the chance! Maybe that’ll change now if I ever plan to expand on this army. And thanks!

@ShotgunFacelift, whilst I haven’t had a chance to have a good read through the official lore, what I’ve seen on the wiki/lex looks awesome. Hopefully we’ll get some 8th ed rules for them in a proper book soon and I’ll have a chance to properly read about them. As for the paint scheme, I have an idea on how I’m going to do it, but only time will tell if it’ll work the way I hope. I’ve already dine a small amount on Kane’s shoulderpad and pistol, but it’s not enough to tell if it’ll work on a full mini. And thanks!

So the two other units are on the backburner for the moment, because I accidently went and picked up a unit of Vanguard Vets, so I obviously had to get them built and out of the way before I did any painting, right? Right?

Whilst I’m goingg to be playing these guys as Vanguard Vets, I thought it would be neat to come up with a bit of lore for them, and give them a reason for travelling with Kane beyond simply being his bodyguard. The basic idea I came up with is that these guys had done something wrong/heretical/dishonourable, and rather than be sent on a penitence mission, they would head into battle bearing all the honours they had achieved up until that point, in the hopes of achieving a glorious death to remove the dishonour they had placed upon the Chapter. They are overseen by the Lord Speaker if the Dead (Kane in this case), who will record their deeds when they fall in glorious close combat. Basically fantasy Slayers, but with more clothes and less red hair (although a similar amount of axes). I have yet to come up with a suitable name for this type of squad, so any ideas are welcome. Maybe something relating back to Hindu warriors/berserkers?

Vanguard Vets WIP

They still need a bit if work yet, mainly GS, but their basically done. I plan to do them up in normal colours, but have the shields black to represent their penitence.

Again, feel free to comment or add suggestions, and thanks to all those who already have! It really inspires me to keep going.

iGuy91 wrote:You love the T-Rex. Its both a hero and a Villain in the first two movies. It is the "king" of dinosaurs. Its the best. You love your T-rex.
Then comes along the frakking Spinosaurus who kills the T-rex, and the movie says "LOVE THIS NOW! HE IS BETTER" But...in your heart, you love the T-rex, who shouldn't have lost to no stupid Spinosaurus. So you hate the movie. And refuse to love the Spinosaurus because it is a hamfisted attempt at taking what you loved, making it TREX +++ and trying to sell you it.

@youwashock, after your suggestion, I started to have a look through some more Hindu deities beyond the most well known. I feel Rudra doesn't quite fit the idea I have for these guys, as I think they're less about terror and hunting, and more about attaining a final glory. Same goes for Shiva, who is the also known as the 'Destroyer'. However, I did find Durga (a warrior goddess known for fighting daemons) and Kartikeya (the Hindu god of war). I think a slight alteration to one of Kartikeya's other names, Skanda, could work. My initial thought was something along the lines of the Skandari, which I could then say translates in the lore to mean 'Those who travel down the path of glory and death to forgive the past' (the overly long name meanings being another thing I've found to be common in Hinduism). However, as this isn't actually what 'Skandari' means, there's a load of wiggle room to alter the name and/or meaning, so I'm still very open to suggestions if you have any other ideas. And, assuming the question mark was unintentional, thanks (unless the question mark was intentional, in which case yes, I am looking forward to how they turn out. I've just finished the first proper test mini, which you'll see bellow, so hopefully they'll turn out well).

@CREEEEEEEEED The shields are just some Chaos Warrior's shields that I cleaned up (except the Sergeant's, which is actually from the Mighty Skullcrushers kit, again with the front cleaned off).

I finally have a fully painted mini in the colours I intend for the entire army (ie not a Chaplin)! He turned out a fair bit different to how I thought he would, but I really like the look. He's a load darker than basically any of the artwork, but then I suppose I can just play the 'Your Dudes' card combined with the 'Alternate Universe' card (the Minotaur player's army is going to be silver with blues and reds, so alternate schemes are already on the table). I'll give you a quick run-through of the scheme right after this picture, but the reason he turned out so differently to how I thought he'd be is because I used slightly watered down blue ink to get the blue colour, but most of it washed off when I used Agrax (an effect I was expecting due to my use of it with Kane, and hoping for because he was way too blue before the wash). However, I wasn't entirely certain what to expect after the blue washed off, so I'm happy it ended up looking good. You'll also see why I mentioned that I might go back to Kane at some point, because I plan to add a fair bit of blood and gore to this army to really make it look like they're in the middle of fighting. Anyway, here's the model

Brother Skuti Malviya of Squad HavaldarHis blade gorged on the innards of those that came too close, a red mist spraying the surrounding plain

As you may also notice, he hasn't any iconography on his shoulders. I'm debating on getting some moulded shoulder-things specifically for the Executioners (found here), but I'm not taking the dive just yet (I only need around 20, not 60). The Assault Squad markings were originally pt on with a transfer, but the next time I picked the model up they had somehow fallen off, so I might just stay away from that (not to mention they'd need a wash to tie them in better with the rest of the model, but I don't want to further darken then already dark shoulderpad). I might go back and just do a load of freehand when most of the things are done.

Now, on to the paint scheme just in case anyone is interested. I started by undercoating black followed by a zenith-style spray of leadbelcher spray. I then used the old blue ink mixed with a bit of water and covered the entire model. With this guy, I then painted the details, but I found that after the next step a lot of the blue had washed over them, so I might leave the details till last from now on. However, with this guy, after the blue and the details, I gave the entire model a wash of Agrax, which as I've said a good few times now, ended up removing a lot of the blue. I then went back over the detains, cleaned things up a bit, and was done. Hopefully I can get this done quicker so I can start to have a full army at some point.

I think there are some other points I wanted to say about this model, but between a mixture of forgetting and realising just how much waffle I've written already, I'm probably going to leave it for now. Again, please feel free to leave your feedback etc, as it's always super welcome.

@whalemusic360, I'm really not that bit a fan of the old scheme to be honest. Plus, the current scheme has colours for vets already (yellow shoulder pads). On top of that I'm not certain I'll even paint up the Vanguard Vets as 'Vets' as they are supposed to be a different group in the small bit of lore I came up with, more akin to berserkers or glory hunters than veterans. As I mentioned to AndrewGPaul, I might give a small nod towards the old scheme if I ever do scouts, but there are no plans for that at the moment.

So with the test scheme out of the way, it's now on to actually painting the majority of the army! To do so, I brought out an old cheap airbrush I bought years ago, but never actually got round to properly using as I was worried it wouldn't work properly and ruin some perfectly good minis. However, after a bit of testing on a spare bit, I decided to take the dive, and my doubts were somewhat resolved. I did end up getting the pooling I was worried about, but I believe that may be more to do with the paint (read: ink) used rather than the airbrush itself (the pooling also sort of happened on the test mini where the ink was brushed on). As such, when it dried I was basically left with some models that looks surprisingly similar to the old skool paint scheme for the Executioners. However, as I mentioned earlier, the ink sort of washes off when I apply the wash, so it all cleared up nicely and I was left with minis that looked exactly like the test piece. Score 1 for the cheap airbrush, and score 1 for me as it'll save me a fair bit of time (especially when it comes to the vehicles later). Overall, since this was still more testing than actually painting, I was able to finish off another 3 Assault Marines, bringing the total to 4. I have yet to do the Sergeant, but I'll probably wait for the Razorback and Vanguard Vets to be finished up first so I don't end up wasting any paint.

Anyway, on the the meat of the thread, the pictures.

Brother Vrikodara Snaeolf of Squad HavaldarA gentle gasp left his lips as the monster towered over him, blood dripping from the weapon that took his life

Brother Asha Sighad of Squad Havaldar A thousand tales have ended as they met the blade of the beast

Brother Styrkar Vaknis of Squad Havaldar A vibrant scream from the mouth of that which took their lives echoed in the chamber

The full Squad Havaldar so farWith a thunderous roar the skies darkened, only for the rain to be worse than death

So there we have it, another 3 models painted in what for me could be considered record time! Again they lack any real marking, but I'm nearly starting to like the look. I might go back and add the Chapter insignia at a later date, but I'm calling these guys done for now. As always, feel free to leave feedback, comments, etc. They're super useful and really stoke my ego

@youwashock, thanks! There are a umber of different images showing Executioners with the gold/bronze faceplate, so I thought I should include one at some point. You'll probably see a few more as time goes on.

@bjorntheimpaler, thanks! Hopefully it'll stay that way throughout

So I realise I've been a bit quite for a lot longer than I really should have been for an army I want to get completed quickly. Right now I'm going to pass that off on life getting in the way (although I'll admit that it was mostly procrastination). However, I've got an update for you guys in that Squad Havaldar is now complete! specifically the Sergeant of the squad, but it still counts, right?

So here are some pictures of him. No massive ramble like every other time, just a couple of photos of Brother-Sergeant Havaldar himself and a full squad photo. With Havaldar, I followed the advise of Meph and added a small amount of white face paint which I think really adds to the finished piece (even though you can't really see it in the photos ). You may also notice a Primaris head on his waist. My plan is to have a number of marine heads scattered around the force, each o coming from a different army that I'll be fighting. The one on Havaldar's belt is from the totally-not-Minotaurs Chapter that one of my friends is making (he's doing an XIth Legion project with a lot of Minotaur influences, so for the Badab War X thing he's just carrying over the models so he doesn't have to paint a load of models he has done already).

Brother-Sergeant Akshey HavaldarA master must know his art. A brother must know his kin. I am both

Assault Squad Havaldar of the Executioners ChapterThe thunder of the bombardment seemed like nothing compared to what came next

So there we have it! First proper squad done for the army, just another 2 5-man units and a load of vehicles! Feedback as always is welcomed with open arms.

Hey all! Sorry for for the lack of updates recently. Don’t worry, I haven’t been completely unproductive though. The Vanguard Vets are currently being painted, and the Rhino is still getting its finishing touches. However, I’ve also moved on to one of the Land Speeders, which is fully built. However, I found out that my list was slightly wrong, so I’ve had to change it a bit. Basically, because this is my first actual Space Marine army, I don’t actually know their rules too well, so when Battlescribe said that a Land Speeder could take two Multi Meltas, I went with it. However, I have since learnt that this isn’t the case, so obviously I have to change the list somewhat. Fortunately, assault cannons cost the exact same, and I was fairly low on anti-infantry, so it all worked out in the end

So here are the WIP photos. Note that the bodies and heads are not yet attached, hence their wobbliness, and the assault cannon will be added later. Both of these are for ease of painting than anything else.

Land Speeder 1 WIP 1

Land Speeder 1 WIP 2

Land Speeder 1 WIP 3

Hopefully you guys like it. More pained stuff to follow, but I might go on a bit of a building spree for a bit so I can ensure everything is ready before moving on. Also, and ideas for something similar in terms of the base for the next Land Speeder would be super useful, as i’m drawing a bit of a blank at the moment.

@youwashock, it's one of the skulls from the citadel skull box. nice simple thing to add to give the vehicle character I feel.

@zahnib, thanks! The razorback has been put on the backburner for a bit, but I'll get round to finishing it eventually. And talking about the base for the Land Speeder...

Quick update for you all! I decided I wanted to vary up what I was painting, so I went ahead and painted up the Land Speeder's base. One of the things I plan to do throughout this army is include the colour schemes of the armies I'll be going up against when the Badab War X thing happens. These are the Astral claws (remember, this is an alternate universe, hence why we're on opposing sides), Raptors, Exorcists, Carcharodons, and Minotaurs (who will be in a different colour scheme that's similar to the Astral Claws). So far I've painted one helmet in the colours of the 'totally-Minotaurs' Chapter colours, specifically the head of a lieutenant (blue with a white stripe), so for the base of the Land Speeder I wanted to go with something different. And what better to offset the blue of the Executioners than with the red of the Exorcists? Chuck in a load of battle damage and weathering, and you're good to go!

Land Speeder 1 base 1

Land Speeder 1 base 2

So there we have it. A nice bit of something interesting to break up the bases. However I am in need of ideas for bases for the next Land Speeder, so I'm open to suggestions. Maybe something a little smaller than the base above, but anything goes. As always, feedback is welcome.

@youwashock, thanks, but I'd probably have to disagree with you there I made sure to take photos at the right angle so you don't see the back, which is just a large flat area of texture paint.

I've made some decent progress on the army. 1 more mini and I'll have technically passed the halfway point in terms of model count. The only problem is that 40% of the remaining models are vehicles, so there's that. However, I still have over a month and a half to do all that, so lets focus on the now for now. Just today I've been able to finish up 4 of the 5 Vanguard Veterans, with only the Sergeant still to do before the squad is complete. I've also had a bit of time to think about their lore, so here's a short litany I wrote;

With honour you were made
In the image of the Emperor
With honour you had fought
In the name of the Emperor
With honour you stand here
To hear the voice of the Emperor

Your honour has been defiled
By your hand and it alone
Our honour has been polluted
By your hand and it alone
And by your hand and it alone
Will this stain be cleansed in blood

By His name and Lord Dorn's
Go now to the Mahariksa
By Lord Rann and the Speakers of the Dead
Do not return
By the honour of out Chapter
Penitence shall be had

The idea is that those who dishonour the Chapter join a unit called the Mahariksa (which means 'Those who travel down the path of glory and death to forgive the past'). Rather than go on a penitence mission by themselves (or with a small squad), the Mahariksa must join the current Lord Speaker of the Dead to achieve a glorious death in combat that can be written down in Ænigmata Ferrum. This will cleanse them of the dishonour the brought upon themselves and the Chapter. To make things particularly worthy of a tale, the Mahariksa wear most if not all of the honours they achieved through battle, meaning they go in fully decked out in all the shiny bits. They're also all helmetless because I just like that. I feel a lack of helmet adds a load more character to the mini.

Anyway, here are the models themselves. As I've said I haven't finished the Sergeant yet, so I'm going to wait until he's done before doing the squad photo.

Brother Goyal Bitrfold of the MahariksaThe screams hurt as they left the throat, agonisingly betraying the final dread she had hid so well

Brother Jatayu Beinvollri of the MahariksaThe axe rose and fell, as it had a thousand times before and as it will a thousand times more

Brother Danzlei Mandalik of the MahariksaGore and blood were nothing new, but the reasons for them exposed a deeper hatred than they once had

Brother Sumar Dhavale of the MahariksaIt was not the metallic smell of fresh vital fluid that hit them first, but the echos of the last saddened wail

So there you have it. 4 newly painted miniatures and a load of over the top, badly written lore. In regards to the minis themselves, I have a bit of a love-hate for them. There are areas on them that I ended up really lliking (the heads and any small details mainly), but there are other areas that I feel I went a bit too sloppily with (the larger areas, such as the shoulder pads). However, they're done now, so I can gradually just forget aboutthe bits I don't like and focus on the bits I do.

Hopefully you guys have at least had a bit of a laugh with what I've written here. Feel free to give feedback and all of the criticism. I'm a big boy, I can take it, I swear.